Television schedule system and method of operation for multiple program occurrences

ABSTRACT

An improved television guide system. According to one embodiment of the invention, television guide information is provided that includes multiple occurrences of a single show. The guide system of the present invention allows the user to identify a show and, thereafter, identify when the identified show will be played again. Accordingly, the user may more easily select shows for viewing or recordation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation of application serial No.10/055,533, filed Jan. 22, 2002, which is a continuation of U.S. Pat.No. 6,341,374, which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,176, whichis a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,688, which is a continuation ofU.S. Pat. No. 5,801,787.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to the field of television scheduleguides and their method of operation. More specifically, in oneembodiment the invention provides a method and apparatus for identifyingwhen a particular show is being broadcast in a television guide system.

[0003] As video entertainment becomes increasingly sophisticated,consumers are provided with wider options in video entertainment. Inaddition to conventional broadcast television programs, a televisionviewer may now have access to, for example, cable televisionprogramming, digital satellite service programming, cable stereobroadcast, and conventional satellite programming. Moreover, within eachof the various transmission media available to the consumer, the numberand variety of programs is increasing dramatically.

[0004] While benefitting consumers through greater selection, the arrayof programming available to consumers also presented a certain dilemma.Specifically, as the number of programs available to the consumer becamelarge, the process of selecting which program to view becameincreasingly onerous. For example, a consumer may have access to wellover 100 cable television channels. If a particular consumer has accessto not only cable programming, but also other programming (such asdigital satellite service) the process of choosing a program would havebeen daunting.

[0005] Accordingly, new and improved methods of providing program guideinformation have been developed for display on the television screen ofthe consumer's television. Of particular note, the StarSight™ on-screenguide system has proven to be pioneering in the field of on-screen guidesystems. The StarSight system provides not only television listings, butalso capabilities such as theme searching, VCR programming, detailedprogram information, and other functionality.

[0006] Recently, additional functionality is suggested in such systems.See U.S. application Ser. No. 08/665,216, incorporated herein byreference for all purposes. In one such system, guide information from,for example, disparate sources such as satellite sources and cablesources is combined to form a unified guide.

[0007] A system according to this invention may, for example, eliminateredundant information from such sources and provide other functionality.

[0008] Significant strides have been made via the StarSight guidesystem, and in fact such guide systems are achieving widespreadacceptance in the television industry. As the complexity of such systemsincreases, however, still further functionality is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] An improved television guide system is provided by virtue of thepresent invention. According to one embodiment of the invention,multiple occurrences of a single show may be identified for a user. Forexample, in many digital satellite systems today, a particular moviewill be played on multiple channels with offset start times. The guidesystem of the present invention allows the user to identify a particularshow and, thereafter, identify when the identified particular show willbe played again. The user may therefore more easily select shows forviewing or recordation.

[0010] Accordingly, in one embodiment the invention provides a method ofgenerating television guide information for a viewer comprising thesteps of inputting schedule guide information into a guide system;receiving user input to identify a particular show in the schedule guideinformation; and identifying for the user other times when theparticular show will be shown.

[0011] A further understanding of the nature and advantages of theinventions herein may be realized by reference to the remaining portionsof the specification and the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012]FIG. 1 is an overall diagram illustrating a television system inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention;

[0013]FIG. 2 is a typical grid guide used according to one embodiment ofthe invention;

[0014]FIG. 3 is a display provided to the user when the “when-else”feature is utilized; and

[0015]FIG. 4 is an overall flowchart illustrating operation of theinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] The present invention utilizes television schedule guideinformation which may be obtained from one or several sources. Thesesources may include an incoming cable line (e.g., on a coax cable),satellite broadcasts, a dedicated telephone line (e.g., a twisted pair),and any other medium capable of transmitting a signal, such as acomputer or modem line. Although the invention will find wide use insystems with only a single source of television signals, such as asatellite system, the invention will be illustrated herein primarily inrelation to a system where broadcasts are received from at least twoseparate sources such as (1) cable and a satellite dish, or (2) twodifferent satellites, or (3) local cable and digital broadcast sources(DBSs), or (4) a conventional antenna and a satellite dish such as a DBSsource, or (5) one of the above sources and an Internet or othercomputer source. The multi-source schedule information is sorted anddisplayed to the user in an organized fashion as described in greaterdetail in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/423,410, incorporated herein byreference.

[0017] When a user selects a show within a displayed guide, the systemreads a source identifier associated with that show or channel. In thepreferred embodiment, the system then carries out an automaticswitching/tuning process that switches the input to the television(either RF or video) to a source device. Exemplary source devicesinclude a DBS, a cable box, a television tuner, an Internet access, etc.The system then tunes to the required channel for the desired show.Additionally, the source identifier can be utilized to switch betweenvarious devices automatically when unattended VCR programming isdesired. Furthermore, when program information is received from multiplesatellite sources and a desired channel is selected, the presentinvention can, in one embodiment, automatically move the customer'ssatellite dish such that the customer receives the desired program fromthe associated source. The present invention then tunes to the correctchannel.

[0018] In creating a merged television guide, a channel map is createdwhich identifies the channels available on the multiple sources, andidentifies their source. For example, in the case of DBS/local channelimplementations, a channel map is created with both local cable and DBSchannels merged. The local channels and the DBS channels are tagged witha source identifier. This merged guide information is used by the systemto identify when a particular show is to be played, even when it is notfrom the same source as another instance of the same show.

[0019] When the user/consumer selects a non-DBS channel from the guide,the integrated receiver decoder unit (IRD box) for the satelliteswitches the IRD to couple the local cable, for example, to thereceiver. The system then tunes the television tuner or other tuningdevice to the required channel. If a DBS channel is later selected, thesystem switches the IRD to couple the satellite receiver/decoder to thereceiver. The system then tunes the DBS tuner to the selected DBSchannel. In the case of, for example, cable and antenna inputs, thesystem switches to the correct video input and then tunes the televisiontuner to the required channel for receiving the selected source. Thus,automatic access to multi-source television schedule guide informationis provided.

[0020] While the present invention is illustrated herein primarily inrelation to a system in which the merged guide is formed at the user'slocation, it will be understood that this is only for the purposes ofillustration, and the merged guide may be formed at a remote locationsuch as a cable head-end.

[0021]FIG. 1 illustrates in simplified form an example of a multisourcetelevision schedule guide system 10 with multiple sources connecteddirectly or indirectly to a television 12 and/or VCR 13. In theembodiment in FIG. 1, multi-source television program and televisionschedule guide system 10 operates under the control of coordinator 14.Television 12 and VCR 13 are provided with inputs from cable box 16 andDBS source 18 either directly as illustrated in FIG. 1, or viacoordinator 14. Other inputs 20 may also be supplied to the televisionand/or VCR directly or via the coordinator 14. A remote control 22 isused by a viewer to tune the television and conduct other operations. Inalternative embodiments, a keyboard, such as a computer keyboard, isused for input. The keyboard may be hard-wire connected or wireless.

[0022] In this embodiment, cable is provided via cable box 16, and DBSis provided via IRD box 18. Antennae 24 may be used as additionalsources of television broadcasts along with cable box 16, IRD box 18,and other inputs 20. In one typical embodiment, antenna 24 and cable box16 would be considered “local” sources meaning that they likely containlocal television broadcasts such as local news broadcasts. By contrast,DBS sources would not be considered local because they would likely notcontain such local content.

[0023] Other inputs 20 can include multiple satellite sources. Whenmultiple satellite sources are present, coordinator 14 switches betweenthe available satellite sources by automatically moving the user'ssatellite dish or switching between satellite dishes. In order toautomatically move the satellite dish, a memory within IRD box 18 (orelsewhere) tracks the position of the DBS satellite dish in relation tosatellite sources which are available via the DBS satellite dish. TheIRD box 18 then automatically positions the DBS satellite dish such thatthe desired satellite source is received by the IRD box 18.

[0024] Coordinator 14 includes processor (CPU) 26 and memory (typicallyRAM) 28 that serve as the primary devices for operating the system. Inthe case where the various television signal sources are provided to thecoordinator, the coordinator may also contain elements such as aninternal tuner, a switching device for switching between sources, andother components. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, he coordinator isconnected to and controls infrared (IR) emitter(s) 30. IR receiver 31 isconnected to coordinator 14 and receives input from the remote orkeyboard 22 to provide the necessary user input to the system. IRemitter(s) 30 can be replaced by, for example, a hard wired interface, abus interface, or an RF transmitter. The IR emitter(s) 30 and/or directconnections (e.g., 31) control one or more of IRD box 18, television 12,VCR 13, cable box 16, and other inputs 20. IR emitter(s) 30 acts as aremote control device by emulating remote control signals of television12, VCR 13, cable box 16, and/or other devices. Coordinator 14 can, insome embodiments, be placed in, for example, the cable box 16, VCR 13,television 12, a satellite receiver or even the keyboard/computer.

[0025] Remote control 22 is a hand-held remote controller forcontrolling coordinator 14. In the preferred embodiment, remote control22 is provided with an IR transmitter which controls the coordinator viaIR receiver 31. Other remote controls, not shown in FIG. 1, can be usedfor manually controlling television 12, VCR 13, cable box 16, IRD box18, and other inputs 20 although, in a preferred embodiment, coordinator14 performs all the necessary control functions of the system. Forexample, as the user adjusts the volume control on remote 22,coordinator 14 emits signals through IR emitter 30 to adjust the volumein television 12.

[0026] IRD box 18 receives television programs along with otherinformation via, in one embodiment, satellite dish 32. IRD box 18 andthe other sources of television signals each provide program scheduleinformation to the system. This program schedule information (or guide)may also include a channel map that contains the channel informationindicating which channels are available on that source. Informationassociated with the DBS guide and others is saved in the IRD boxreceiver's RAM or downloaded to the coordinator 14. Similarly, programguide information can be received through cable box 16, other inputs 20,antennae 24, and/or through any other transmission medium (e.g.,dedicated twisted pair telephone line). Each of these sources may alsobe provided with television schedule data within the signal transmittedby the service provider.

[0027] Coordinator 14 finds and sorts the program guide informationavailable in system 10. Various formats can be used for the televisionschedule information. For example, data packets comprising a simpleheader section and an information section can be received and sortedwith other, more complex data packet formats, or a header with sourceinformation can be added. In the preferred embodiment, coordinator 14takes the television schedule information from the available source(s)or a data input line and sorts/mixes it. For example, coordinator 14 mayreceive program schedule information via the vertical blanking intervalin a television channel or via a transponder for the DBS, or theInternet, and then arrange the information in an organized fashion, orperform other operations. For example, the system may eliminateduplicate channels.

[0028] In an alternative arrangement, the sorting/mixing of programschedule information is done in a separate location and then provided tosystem 10, for example, on a simple satellite channel. Thus, programschedule information, which has already been mixed, sorted, organized,etc., is received in a format which is ready for display. Thisready-for-immediate-display format can also be provided in a separatedata stream via a different medium or on a television channel.

[0029]FIG. 2 is a simplified example of an on-screen display of aschedule grid guide that has been assembled from the television guideinformation. This display may be presented on a television screen, apersonal computer that conducts the overall process, or a televisionsensor display generated by a personal computer. In the preferredembodiment, after coordinator 14 has collected and sorted all theavailable program guide information, coordinator 14 generates the gridguide set forth in FIG. 2 for display on television 12 via, for example,a direct connection (not shown) to TV 12 or via an overlay on one of thesources such as cable source 16. In the preferred embodiment, the userdisplays grid guide 40 by pressing a guide button on remote control 22.Coordinator 14 responds to the initial pressing of the guide button byautomatically tuning to the channel or device which carries grid guide40, or overlaying a grid guide in a current broadcast. When the user isdone with grid guide 40, the user presses the guide button again (or anexit button) and coordinator 14 (1) automatically returns to the channelor source last viewed by the user or (2) removes the overlay.

[0030] The grid guide, designated generally with the reference numeral40, provides a line up of all channels or a selection of channels 42along with a description of the shows 44 available on those channels atcertain times 46. For example, the USA network is showing BATMANbeginning at 2:00 p.m. A SOAP is shown on NBC from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00p.m., followed by NEWS. The information may be sorted and/or filteredby, for example, theme(s) according to Young et al., U.S. Pat. No.4,706,121, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

[0031] When multiple sources are used for receiving television channels,an overlap of channels sometimes occurs. For example, both cable and DBSmay carry the network NBC, but cable may have NBC on channel 6 and DBSmay have NBC on channel 7. By having the ability to delete and activatethe channels displayed in grid guide 40, the user can determine whetherto display one of the NBC channels, both of the NBC channels, or neitherof the NBC channels. In an alternative embodiment, coordinator 14 mayautomatically note duplicate network names and delete one of theduplicates.

[0032] The user may utilize the remote control device to move a cursoror other indicator from position to position in the grid guide. Thecursor may be indicated by, for example, coloring the display of theindicated show differently from the rest of the shows. In the embodimentshown in FIG. 2, the cursor is directed to GONE WITH THE WIND and isindicated by cross hatching. In this particular instance the doublemarks to the left of the display indicate that GONE WITH THE WIND hasbeen playing for some period of time already. Accordingly, the user maywish to find out if the movie GONE WITH THE WIND is showing at othertimes such that the user may either automatically record the futurepresentation of GONE WITH THE WIND, automatically tune to the futurepresentation of GONE WITH THE WIND, or simply be aware that GONE WITHTHE WIND will be showing at a future time.

[0033] Accordingly, the user provides input to the system to indicatethat the user would like to know “when-else” the show will be presented.This input may be, for example, provided by pressing a dedicated buttonon the remote control, or by marking a show, toggling the cursor to a“when-else” screen display button 48, and striking an “enter” button onthe remote control. Of course a full keyboard will allow more versatileoperation.

[0034] In either event the controller 14 searches the stored scheduleinformation for other occurrences of that particular show. As usedherein, the term “particular show” refers to a specific movie or otherunique show. In the case of a series of shows (e.g., the COSBY SHOW) theterm “particular show” will refer to a specific segment or episode ofthat show. In the example in FIG. 2 the system searches for otheroccurrences of GONE WITH THE WIND and indicates to the user if, when,and where GONE WITH THE WIND will be played again. The particular showmay or may not be shown again on the same source of video. Of course, a“show” may also refer to, for example, an FM radio broadcast as well asa television show.

[0035]FIG. 3 illustrates one possible outcome after entering the“when-else” button. As shown, the movie GONE WITH THE WIND is beingplayed at multiple times in the future. Specifically, it is currentlybeing shown on HBO1 as the user is probably already aware if the screenhas been entered from a grid guide generated for the current time. Inaddition, the same channel is showing this movie at 11:00 p.m. on thesame day. A different channel, HBO2, is showing this movie at 11:30 p.m.on the same day. In this particular illustration, HBO1 and HBO2 areprovided to the user over the same source of television signals (in thiscase a cable service provider). Accordingly, it is seen that theinvention is useful even when only a single source of service isutilized. The usefulness of the invention is further expanded whenmultiple sources of television signals are provided. In this example,GONE WITH THE WIND is also being shown on the next Wednesday at 4:00p.m. on a DSS channel, as well as on the next Thursday on a conventionalantenna network signal, NBC. Accordingly, when a particular show isplayed at different times the user may make use of this information,even when the show is broadcast over different sources of televisionsignals.

[0036] Still other sources of the particular show (or information aboutthe show) may be indicated. For example, in FIG. 4, the guide indicatesan “Internet” source. Toggling to this source may provide the user witha direct Internet connection that will, for example, provide informationabout the show or download the full show itself. Alternatively,advertising about the availability of the show at a video store(Blockbuster) may be provided.

[0037] After identifying when a show is to be played the user mayconduct any one of several operations. In a common case the user willtoggle the cursor down to a particular instance of the show, and strikea “record” button on the remote control. The system will then tune theVCR to the proper program at the designated time and record the show. Inother embodiments, the user will mark the show to be placed in areminder list. When the time for the show in the reminder list arisesthe system will either tune automatically to that show, or prompt theuser to determine if the user wishes to have the television tuned tothat particular channel. In other cases, the user may use theinformation for the purpose of recalling that he/she wishes to return tothe television at that particular time.

[0038]FIG. 4 is an overall flowchart illustrating operation of theinvention according to one particular embodiment. In most cases theoperation shown in FIG. 4 will be performed under the direction ofsoftware stored on a RAM, ROM, or other computer-readable memory such asmemory 28. The data may be stored locally, in an external database, orin a combination of both. In step 401 the system receives inputindicating that the user wishes to identify other instances of aparticular show. At step 402 the system searches for other instances ofthe particular show beginning at the present time. It should berecognized that the user may or may not be in a current time display ina guide when such input is provided. For example, the user may bescanning a listing of action movies that have been generated based on atheme search, and have the cursor on an instance of a particular movieone week in the future. When the user activates the “when-else” functionthe system will, in most embodiments, search for all instances of thatparticular show beginning at the actual present time, not the time oneweek in the future. In this manner the user may, for example, identifywhen a particular movie is showing in the next few hours, even thoughthe user may have his/her interest peaked in a particular show based ona listing at a distant date.

[0039] In some embodiments, sources are searched in the stored guideinformation to identify other instances of a particular show. The searchmay be performed locally or externally, and may be based on showidentity fields, or on term-based searching, or a combination of thetwo. After the other instances of that particular show have beenidentified, a display is generated at step 404 that includes a listingof the other instances of the particular show. If none are identified,the display can either contain no such listings, or indicatespecifically to the user that no such listings have been identified.

[0040] Thereafter, at step 406 the user may perform any one of a widevariety of functions. Commonly the user may toggle down to an instanceof the show, and strike a record button, or otherwise select the showfor recordation. In other cases the user may simply return to theprevious guide listing. In still other cases the user may toggle down toan instance of the show, and mark it for a future reminder to begenerated for the user when that instance of the show arises. In stillfurther embodiments, the system may store the request and, even if noother instances of the particular show are presently in the guide,provide alerts to the user when instances of the show are added to theguide.

[0041] The above description is illustrative and not restrictive. Manyvariations of the invention will become apparent to those of skill inthe art upon review of this disclosure. Merely by way of example theinvention has been illustrated primarily with regard to multiple sourceguide systems, but the invention is not so limited. The scope of theinvention should, therefore, be determined not with reference to theabove description, but instead should be determined with reference tothe appended claims along with their full scope of equivalents.

1. A television guide system for providing television programinformation for a viewer, the system comprising: a memory storing viewerselection data and an electronic program database comprising a listingof a plurality of television programs telecast at particular times; adisplay, coupled to the memory, for displaying at least a portion of thelisting in a guide format; an input for receiving viewer selection of atelevision program listing associated with a particular televisionprogram; and a processor, coupled to the memory, display, and input, theprocessor including logic for: storing the viewer selection of thetelevision program listing in the memory; and alerting the viewer whenthe particular television program becomes available from an alternateprogram source.